UFS Science Report 2015-2016

17 November 2017

Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station

For ten years DLR has been part of the science consortium and a founding member of the “Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station, UFS“ virtual institute on Mount Zugspitze. EOC and its neighbouring Institute of Atmospheric Physics conduct research at UFS on a variety of subjects relating to atmospheric dynamics, trace gases and aerosols. The UFS science report for 2015-2016 has now been published.

The UFS science report for 2015-2016 presents selected results of research undertaken in various environmental sciences as well as developments in technology and research infrastructure realized in 2015 and 2016. The brief reports are written to be intelligible to readers from diverse disciplines. UFS has the goal to advance cooperative research of the Earth System from the diverse points of view of different specialist disciplines.

The articles are concerned with aspects of atmospheric trace gases and aerosols, clouds, meteorology, and atmospheric dynamics, as well as with monitoring the hydro-, bio-, cryo- and geospheres and the spatial and temporal changes occurring in these realms.

In this report EOC describes its research on the variability of planetary waves in the mesopause, on investigations of atmospheric dynamics over the Alps, on characterising gravity wave activity in the mid-atmosphere over the Alpine region, on Sahara dust over southern Germany as an example of computing-on-demand, on measuring aerosol and trace gas profiles using the MAX-DOAS instrument at UFS, and on employing UAV as an innovative method to validate satellite-supported aerosol identification.

Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station is operated under the auspices of the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection. The following organisations are part of UFS: DLR, KIT, Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Centre Munich, Munich Technical University (TUM), Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Augsburg University, German Environment Agency, Germany's National Meteorological Service Deutscher Wetterdienst, and several Bavarian state ministries (Environment, Health, Science) and subordinate authorities like the Bavarian Environmental Protection Agency. The technical and administrative management is handled by UFS GmbH.

The report is publicly available (in German) via the link at right: "UFS-Schneefernerhaus: Wissenschaftliche Resultate 2015/2016".